charcuterie Chorizo meatloaf

The first time I ever ate from a charcuterie board was when I was in college going to out lunch on campus with one of my many now ex-boyfriends. There was an upscale cafe in one of the newer buildings and they had cheese, crackers, and grapes on the platter. The cheese on the board was disgusting so I only ate the grapes and crackers. 

Separately, I've had many dry sausages that would normally be found on a charcuterie board and they too are disgusting.

But what exactly is a charcuterie board? Well, it's a fancy wooden board in which you put sausages, cheeses, jellies, pates(but that's basically liver and I HATE liver, so I used hummus instead. But I'm not particularly fond of hummus either), and crackers on it, usually for a fancy party. You can also put other things on it like grapes or sun-dried tomatoes(both of which I forgot to put in this recipe).

A couple of weeks ago, while shopping for meat at my local supermarket, I saw ground chorizo for sale. I knew I had to turn it into some sort of meatloaf! Now if you've seen my other sausage meatloaf videos, you may notice almost all of them were flops in terms of the meatloaves actually holding their shape together.

I thought to myself, "Well, if the casings are already removed and the meat has been ground already, then surely if I use crushed crackers, it will actually stay together?" Wrong! Maybe it's because I crushed the focaccia chips by hand in a Ziploc bag rather than in an actual food processor. I don't know.

But one thing I do know for sure is that it wasn't salty, unlike my previous sausage meatloaf flops! However, it was spicy, and I suggest you eat this meatloaf with a glass of milk if by some chance you make my recipe for yourself.

You will need:

For the cooking equipment:

A large bowl
A lasagna pan
Nonstick cooking spray

For the meatloaf:

2/3 tbsp. of onion powder
2/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce
6 ounces of mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of red currant jelly
1/4 cup of everything-seasoned hummus(as in everything bagels)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 1/2 cups of crushed focaccia chips(using either a Ziploc bag or a food processor)
16 ounces of ground chorizo sausage(see note)

1. Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix all ingredients up until you get a firm, cohesive meatloaf mixture.
2. Spray a lasagna pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Form 2 loaves in the lasagna pan from the meatloaf mixture.
4. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 14-16 minutes.
5. Bon appetit!

Note: You can either buy ground chorizo sausage or:

1. Get chorizo sausages.
2. Remove the casings from the sausages.
3. Crumble the meat up.